I'd have the amp checked out. Capacitors next to big heatsinks have short lives.
I have NOVA V's and I am not happy
I have a Mark Levinson 585 and a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V's and although I admittedly have some room acoustic issues that I am working on I am not happy with the sound.
I listen to music LOUD. This Pairing thru a pair of Kimber Cable 8TC's gets bright in what I think is the 2 to 4 khz range and the sonus faber nova's seem to mute the lower end of female vocals, artist like Macy Gray or Tina Turner dont seem to have the same drive in the lower octaves. At the same time the upper end of vocals like Sheryl Crow can get too bright and cause fatigue (I am assuming this is in the 2 to 4khz range) I have tried every speaker placement you can think of, toe in, toe out. distance from front wall and I am adding acoustic treatments as fast as they can be shipped.
Here is my question, I had Mark Levinson 436 Mono Blocks in the past connected to a pair of B&W Nautilus 802's thru a pair of MIT Shotgun bi-wire speaker cables and I never noticed that system to be bright. Granted that system was in a different room in a different house. Everyone is telling me that B&W is a brighter sounding speaker by far over Sonus Faber. If I decide after all my room treatments that I am not a fan of the Sonus Faber sound where should I turn for my replacement speaker? Or is it Mark Levinson's Fault? I want Rich Lush Loud Musical sound. I like a decent sound stage, I also really love it when when you hear decay from the instruments. I don't really care if that's what is neutral or not that's what I like :)
Where did I go wrong and what can I do to fix it?
Thanks Lee
Showing 5 responses by ieales
All hardware and cable recommendations are system and user specific and thus irrelevant. The speaker has some very low impedance points possibly making the ML unhappy, a horrifically wrong frequency spectrum and it's ported. Nothing will make it sound any good. See Sonus faber Olympica Nova V Loudspeaker Lab Report | Hi-Fi News (hifinews.com) |
It’s the nature of the business. Many components are designed for looks / SPL and not accurate sound reproduction. I’ve lost count of the number times I heard 15 foot wide vocals or a kick that sounds like a pillow hit with a tennis racket or strings that would cut glass. Forget about sound stage and phase coherence. The last time I went to a high end shop, the salesman was quite incensed that I thought the [$250k?] system was awful and asked "How would you know what it’s supposed to sound like?" Because I recorded it. And yes, the room was well appointed. NOT ALL COMPONENTS [cables included] work well together. |
I bought the house because of the room. [The realtor asked the missus "Why does he go around clapping everywhere we look?"] Then I designed the diffusers, err, bookcases and put down hard as blaze strand bamboo then covered about 60% of it with wool rugs. Not visible are CD & DVD racks behind the seating area which extends back about as far as the front distance. I could have put the TV at the other end and the sofa on a turntable, but there are limits... 😎 |